Google gets into the DNS arena with its own public DNS service — so what does this mean for you?

I'm not sure exactly what to make of this at the moment, but Google is now offering a pair of DNS servers that you can use in lieu of whatever you're using now for DNS lookup.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, DNS stands for Domain Name System and is basically the way your computer takes the alphanumeric Web address you type into your browser, such as http://google.com, and figures out where to look in a strictly numeric way on the Internet for the content you're requesting, which at this moment in time on my system is http://74.125.45.100.

It's what makes the World Wide Web usable for those of us who aren't fond of memorizing series' of numbers to take us where we want to go.

For those who want to try Google's DNS service themselves, here's a Tech Republic article about it.

Hint from me: If you have no idea how to configure the DNS server information on your system, be it Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD or other, don't start now.

But if you do have experience configuring your DNS server info — and especially if you have had trouble with DNS (as I have), this might be a credible way to go.

At one of the places I do my computing, the DNS service is lousy. It's slow and barely works. In that case, I use the DNS servers that my home ISP provides — servers that conveniently work anywhere.

For others who have trouble either with the DNS where they happen to be at the moment or who need an alternative for some other reason, I recommend OpenDNS.

One of the concerns over DNS is its susceptibility to spoofing — i.e. a rogue or compromised DNS server taking you not to the Web site you wish to go but instead to another server designed to part you with either your identity or your money.

For instance, say you wanted to go to http://bankofamerica.com to ... do some banking. A compromised DNS server could take that alphanumeric address and point you anywhere, even to a fake BofA server that wants to get your account information from you.

Not that this is happening on a mass scale. Most "phising" attacks send you e-mail that directs you to a rogue server and doesn't need compromised DNS to rip you off.

But there are DNS attacks, and I guess Google is offering this service in part to extend its brand into another critical part of the Internet.

Whether this is good or bad, I don't know. But I like having choices for DNS, and I will be keeping a close watch on Google's foray into this realm.

Want to change your DNS servers?

Google's new DNS servers
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

(Those are easy to remember, no?)

OpenDNS' servers
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Note: I have used OpenDNS' service a bit in the past. And I've recommend that others use it when they're having trouble with other DNS servers.

I'm not using it now because I prefer the DNS servers of my ISP, but as I said above, choice is good — very good.